Announcing the Engagement
by xxPurpleStars3xx
Summary: What if Queen Amberly and King Clarkson lived instead of died in The One? This is how I think that Maxon would've told his parents about his engagement to America if they had lived. No flames please!


**Disclaimer: I don't own The Selection by Kiera Cass.**

"But—" I protested as Maxon dragged me down the hall his father's study.

"No buts. My parents are going to have to live with it, like it or not," he said.

"It's not your mother I'm worried about."

Maxon stopped and took my hands in his, looking me straight in the eyes. He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"Now, listen to me. I love you, and nothing is going to change that. I am going to marry you, whether he likes it or not. He is going to have to deal with it. It's always been my choice, and I'm choosing you."

He kissed me and we continued on our journey down the hall. We stopped outside of his father's study, hearing his parents' voices.

"But what if he _does_ choose her, Clarkson?" Amberly asked her husband. She sounded very annoyed, like she and her husband had been fighting for a long time about this subject.

"No son of mine will do that. She's rash, plain and should not under any circumstances be Queen," the King said. "I've explained this to you before, Amberly."

"Yes, in so many words, and it still doesn't make sense why, if you does pick her like I think he will, you just won't let her be happy."

"Because she's not Queen material!"

They were obviously talking about me, and by the way that Maxon squeezed my hand, he knew it too.

"It'll be alright," he told me. "I'm going to go in there. Wait here until I announce it."

"Okay," I said, and Maxon gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Try not to get yourself killed. I can't marry a dead man."

He rolled his eyes and walked inside.

"Ah, Maxon," Clarkson said, "I assume you've come to tell us the winner of the Selection?"

"Yes, Father, I have," Maxon said very calmly.

"Very well, bring Kriss in."

My heart broke. I knew that he was pushing for Kriss and not me. But Maxon's words about his parents having to deal with us succeeding them whether they liked it or not came back to me. Who cared what he thought? _He_ wasn't the one who was choosing this time around. _He_ chose Amberly in his own Selection. Now it was his son's time, and he chose me.

"It's not Kriss," Maxon denied.

I heard a sigh of relief from the Queen and smiled.

"So it's the rash one? The one I never liked," Clarkson confirmed. "The one I threw in there for basically laughs and giggles?"

"Yes, Father. America, come in here." I walked in to the room, and stood next to Maxon. He put his hand in mine, squeezed it again and continued speaking. "I love her, Father. You got to choose, and you chose Mom. Now it's my time to choose, and while Kriss is an amazing girl, it's always been America. It's been her since almost the first day."

Amberly took me in a sweeping hug.

"You can call me Mom, now, dear," she said, grasping me hard.

_What is with this family and the calling other people 'Dear'? Do I have to do it too with _my_ own children?_

"Thanks, Mom," I said, hugging her back.

She pulled away and turned to look at her husband with cold eyes.

"I will not allow this marriage to take place," Clarkson said.

"Clarkson, be reasonable," Amberly said, putting a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Don't you remember falling in love with me? Don't you remember proposing to me in front of all those people?"

"Don't try to turn this around on me. She is _not_ coming into my family and that is that."

"Oh, yes I am!" I shouted. "I love him, so why not marry if he loves me, too? When he's _chosen me_? When he's said it's been me from the beginning?"

Amberly moved and stood next to me, across from her husband, showing us she was on our side. She and I smiled at each other and Maxon squeezed my hand even harder than he did out in the hall.

"Father, you can cane, whip, do whatever you want to me and I'll take it. But you can't take away how I feel about America. Whether we have to elope or have a ceremony without you, we _will_ be married," Maxon said, standing up to his father.

The King looked stunned and angry at his son for defying him once again. Then he sighed in frustration.

"Fine," the King grumbled, "you two can marry." Maxon and I embraced and kissed. "Now, go make plans or something! Shoo!"

Maxon and I ran as fast as we could out of the office. He held me and we smiled at each other. He kissed me quickly and took my hand, leading me somewhere.

"Where are we going?" I laughed.

"He told us to plan our wedding, so let's do it!"

He ran out to the gardens and sat us down on the bench that we first met on, and we started planning the rest of our lives together.


End file.
